Re: Do you think there will be "Year One" for us?
Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2025 1:08 pm
Gents,
I'm, in a hobby form, running www.goldeneraparts.com. I've been in the Honda game since 2003 and owned nearly all of the common chassis, including 2 USDM ITR, and wanted to give back to the community while also filling a need for my own restorations.
It is just a hobby on the side, designing a few parts per year, and not my day job. I contribute very little time per week and have my sons help with packaging, etc. We ship about 10-15 packages a week.
I started with CRX, but just finished the first DC2 part (the rear glass molding). It sold out the first 25 early production samples pretty quick, so we have an order of 500 on the way and due back in late March. They are coming from an overseas vendor that is an OEM supplier for major brands globally.
Next on my DC2 list is the door glass run-channel and door weatherstripping, however they have some complexities in their tooling.
I've redesigned quite a few parts with 3D printers but the quality just isn't sufficient. I've contracted out molded plastic parts instead for the CRX and have a few other products underway there.
Just sharing some rough numbers here, generalizing. The capital outlay PER PART for rubber moldings is ~$20,000 USD.
For that cost, you cover tooling, engineering, and the first order of 500 pieces.
With our communities very low volume sales (usually 3 to 8 per month per part), that means inventory for that first order is 5 to 10 years.
You can toss this all into excel and see that the ROI is really not much better than dropping that same $20K into the S&P 500, and you take on the risk of them not selling and you have no liquidity.
I only do it for the passion and somewhat for the challenge personally.
There are some sweet spots when the part isn't overly complex where the numbers work out better.
I've actually been in discussion with Mita and they have some of the same sentiments. Some parts will make sense, but some will never be justifiable due to tooling costs.
I'm, in a hobby form, running www.goldeneraparts.com. I've been in the Honda game since 2003 and owned nearly all of the common chassis, including 2 USDM ITR, and wanted to give back to the community while also filling a need for my own restorations.
It is just a hobby on the side, designing a few parts per year, and not my day job. I contribute very little time per week and have my sons help with packaging, etc. We ship about 10-15 packages a week.
I started with CRX, but just finished the first DC2 part (the rear glass molding). It sold out the first 25 early production samples pretty quick, so we have an order of 500 on the way and due back in late March. They are coming from an overseas vendor that is an OEM supplier for major brands globally.
Next on my DC2 list is the door glass run-channel and door weatherstripping, however they have some complexities in their tooling.
I've redesigned quite a few parts with 3D printers but the quality just isn't sufficient. I've contracted out molded plastic parts instead for the CRX and have a few other products underway there.
Just sharing some rough numbers here, generalizing. The capital outlay PER PART for rubber moldings is ~$20,000 USD.
For that cost, you cover tooling, engineering, and the first order of 500 pieces.
With our communities very low volume sales (usually 3 to 8 per month per part), that means inventory for that first order is 5 to 10 years.
You can toss this all into excel and see that the ROI is really not much better than dropping that same $20K into the S&P 500, and you take on the risk of them not selling and you have no liquidity.
I only do it for the passion and somewhat for the challenge personally.
There are some sweet spots when the part isn't overly complex where the numbers work out better.
I've actually been in discussion with Mita and they have some of the same sentiments. Some parts will make sense, but some will never be justifiable due to tooling costs.
. I'm naively pessimistic on Honda recognizing the value in a huge community and culture towards primarily (and painfully) paying for OEM Honda parts- but who knows, maybe Honda will come back to their community. Until then, I'm glad to see third parties step up.